“Fuck, all right. I’ll see what I can do. And I’ll talk to the team and get you some thoughts.”
“Good. And Nick? Don’t wait. We’re riding on this as soon as possible.”
They hung up, and Dare tossed his phone to the table. “Board members and anyone else who can stick around to plan this thing out, stay here. Everyone else is dismissed. But be prepared to ride within the next twenty-four to forty-eight. We’ll stay in touch.” Eight members remained after the others filed out, and Dare nodded to the door. “Let’s head to my office and take a look at what Nick sent.”
It turned out to be gold.
Standing behind Dare’s desk chair while his cousin opened files revealing locations, layouts, numbers, and more, Maverick already felt the adrenaline of the coming fight surging through his blood.
Dare sat back in his chair, his gaze glued to the monitor. “Their headquarters is in the middle of a largely abandoned industrial area right on the water, and they’re not going to be there tomorrow night because they’ve got some big deal going down that the Feds are focused on.”
“That’s fucking perfect,” Maverick said. For what they had planned, it was exactly what they needed.
“Jesus, if I was a religious man I might almost say this was providence,” Phoenix said. Everyone nodded.
“Moving this fast makes me itchy as hell,” Caine said in a quiet voice. “But we might not get this kind of opening again.”
“The faster we get it done, the better,” Dare said. “Maximum impact with minimum possible risk.”
“Unless everything goes tits up,” Jagger said.
“As tits are wont to do,” Phoenix agreed.
Hands clasped over his belly, Dare nodded. “Then we spend tonight and tomorrow working on contingencies. But otherwise, let’s get the word out to all the brothers.” He peered up at Maverick. “We ride tomorrow night.”
Satisfaction was a tight coil in Mav’s gut. “This is the right call, D.”
His cousin nodded, and then he looked back to the open documents on the computer screen. “I know. I just hope it doesn’t cost us too much, because I’m not sure how much more we can stand to lose.”
CHAPTER 5
Why are you up so early?” Grant asked, coming up behind Alexa where she stood at the bathroom mirror carefully brushing on mascara. His arms wrapped around her stomach.
“This is the morning I have to take my mom to her doctor’s appointment,” she said, capping the tube.
“Mmm, that’s right,” Grant said, something that sounded like disappointment in his tone. He was estranged from his parents and had been for way longer than she’d known him, though he wouldn’t talk about why so she didn’t know what’d happened. But it meant he didn’t really get her relationship with her mother. Mostly, he tolerated it. He settled his chin on her shoulder, and it was possible that the phrase tall, dark, and handsome had been coined just for him. Even just out of bed he was undeniably attractive, with his square jaw, his classical profile, his calculating brown eyes, and his stylishly cut short brown hair. “You came to bed too late.”
“I know,” she said, feeling the sleepy weight of having gone to sleep after two in the morning. “I’m sorry. I was working on my project. A rough draft is due two weeks after the wedding, so I’m trying to get ahead so most of it is done beforehand.”
His hands roamed up to palm her breasts through her shirt. Pressing a kiss against the side of her throat, he said, “I need you.”
Alexa watched him in the mirror, kissing her, grabbing her, rubbing against her. In another moment, it might’ve been sexy, but she didn’t have time to have sex, which he would know if he remembered any of the three times she’d told him that she’d be late to work on Friday morning because of her mother’s appointment. And now he was putting her in the position of turning him down, which he wouldn’t like. Which he never liked.
She leaned into his kiss and put on a smile. “I would like nothing more than to be with you, but I’ll be late.”
He hugged her harder, grinding himself into her rear, and sucked her earlobe into his mouth. “We’ll be quick.” His hands slid down to her skirt and grasped it. Slowly, he worked it up.
“Grant,” she said, her tone full of regret, a niggle of dread stirring in her belly.
He rucked her skirt up around her waist. Pushed her panties down. Slipped his fingers between her thighs.
“Honey, this feels good, but I’m gonna be late,” she said, gently grasping his wrist, trying to still his movements.
“You’ve got time,” he said, twisting his wrist out of her hold. “Her appointment isn’t for an hour and a half.”
So he did remember. “I know, but you know how my mother is.” Her mother had anxiety about all kinds of things, including leaving the house and going to the doctor, which meant she was going to need lots of coaxing and reassuring just to get her out the door. There was no such thing as rushing Alexa’s mother to do anything.